The backlash against boardroom greed spread from Britain’s banks to the rest of the City yesterday as ordinary shareholders rose up against fat cat pay deals.

Bosses at insurance giant Aviva were left humiliated after their multi-million pound bonuses were rejected by investors at their annual meeting.

Yesterday’s outpouring of anger at the lavish pay packages afforded to Aviva executives follows a string of embarrassing rebukes against other firms.

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Anger: Barclays' chief Bob Diamond's pay jackpot this year has ignited a furious battle with investors, while Trinity Mirror boss Sly Bailey, right, was forced out after weeks of criticism from shareholders

Last week, Barclays also received a bloody nose, with 31.4 per cent of shareholders failing to back its pay and perks. This included a package of up to £26.6million for its chief executive Bob Diamond.

On Tuesday, mining giant Xstrata received a protest vote of 39 per cent over its remuneration report, which sanctioned a package worth £6million for its boss Mick Davis.

And last night Sly Bailey, chief executive of Trinity Mirror newspaper group, was forced out after weeks of criticism from investors and shareholders about her £1.7million pay package.

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But the Aviva result – described as symptomatic of a ‘tsunami of revulsion’ against fat cat pay – meant the Norwich-based firm became the first blue chip company to receive a majority ‘No’ vote from shareholders over its pay and perks since the credit crunch.

Aviva chairman Lord Sharman was also lambasted by one shareholder for failing to sack chief executive Andrew Moss after revelations emerged in 2009 of an office affair.

Last night Deborah Hargreaves, chairman of the High Pay Commission, said: ‘The rebellion is spreading from the banks to other businesses.

Storm: Earlier this week mining giant Xstrata received a protest vote of 39 per cent over its remuneration report, which sanctioned a package worth £6million for its boss Mick Davis

‘Shareholders are finally taking more of a stand and waking up to the fact they have been ripped off. This is a result of the economic times we’re living in.

‘Businesses just can’t afford to look like they’re living on a different planet from the rest of us.’

Aviva has been dragged into the firing line after dishing out pay packages worth up to £5.2million to its chief executive Andrew Moss and £4.2million for his Australian right-hand man Trevor Matthews, who only joined the firm in December. This included a ‘controversial’ £2.5million ‘golden hello’ payment.

Almost 60 per cent of votes failed to back the insurer’s remuneration report, which sanctioned the payments. Some 54 per cent – which came from private shareholders and giant pension funds – actively protested against the insurer’s multi-million pound bonuses. Aviva, which has 14million customers in the UK after swallowing up Norwich Union, joined the ranks of state-backed Royal Bank of Scotland and oil giant Shell which both faced rebellions at the height of the financial crisis in 2009.

Lord Oakeshott, the Liberal Democrat peer
who has campaigned against excessive pay in the City, said the move
showed the need for government reforms which will give shareholders
formal power to stop excessive pay deals. Currently, companies can
ignore shareholders’ pleas for restraint.

The humiliation at Aviva comes despite repeated attempts to head off a rebellion, including promises of pay reform and Moss waiving a 4.8 per cent pay rise that would have nudged his salary above £1million. The issue of bonuses at Aviva has become particularly toxic as its shares have slumped by more than a fifth.

Mounting resentment finally spilled over at London’s Barbican arts centre as the firm jousted with shareholders at its annual meeting.

Ordinary investors in the audience, many of them pensioners, ripped into the spiralling pay enjoyed by Aviva’s top brass. One private shareholder also questioned the morality of the company’s boardroom, referring to revelations of Mr Moss’s affair. Addressing the chairman, Lord Sharman, who backed Mr Moss over the scandal, Michael Mason-Mahon said: ‘Your failure to deal with this brings shame on you.’

Another shareholder, Philip Meadowcraft, said: ‘Our board members are more concerned about their own remuneration than growing the business.’

Aviva has pledged to review its bonus scheme, but its executives will not lose their bonuses despite the vote as it is not binding on the company. Lord Oakeshott added: ‘Business Secretary Vince Cable’s proposals for binding shareholder votes on top pay packages must now be passed into law to stop shareholders who own our companies from just being toothless tigers.’